


Rebecca Shepard prompts collection

by AricaZorel



Series: The Lives of a Shepard [4]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Tumblr Prompt, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:07:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29489514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AricaZorel/pseuds/AricaZorel
Summary: “Kaidan, what is it?”He held her hand in both of his. “I want you to be honest with me.”“I have been…”“No, Shepard. I know you have been about everything else. But I know you worry about everyone else first and then yourself if there’s time,” he continued as he felt her try to pull away. “How are you holding up? Really?”“Kaidan…”“Don’t Kaidan me, Shep. This is serious,” he snapped just like he had on Mars. “I need to know. I want to help you, be there for you if…if you want that.”She was silent for a moment as she took in what he was saying. She let out a ragged breath. He drew her closer to him.“It…it’s been hard…but I can’t let anyone know how much pressure…” she mumbled into his shirt.“Shepard, you can’t do it alone. You’re not. I can help…however you need me to,” Kaidan assured her.Becca reached for his hand as she said, “You make me strong. Just being back on the Normandy…It helps more than you know.”“I…I’m here for you. I want to be your strength…you’re soft place to land,” he said with conviction. “I need to know you’re alright.”“Kaidan…”He hooked a finger under her chin and said, “Rebecca, I love you.”
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Series: The Lives of a Shepard [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741258
Kudos: 1





	1. Just Like Old Times

**Author's Note:**

> A series of prompts from Tumblr surrounding the relationship between Rebecca Shepard and Kaidan Alenko. Mostly revolving around ME3 and onwards. Based on Becca Shepard from part 2 of "The Lives of a Shepard"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Rebecca Shepard stared at him as she tried to process what was going on. She remembered the nightmare but before that they had talked…In her cabin. After she had found Kaidan in the observation lounge and heard the news of his father…
> 
> They had talked about everything. Mars. The hospital. The standoff during the siege of the Citadel. Everything but Horizon. Could that be why she still had the nightmares? The ones that made the actual events on the cursed colony seem like a picnic? Like the one she had just had? The one that made her physically sick to her stomach…
> 
> Kaidan and Rebecca are finally forced to acknowledge the fallout from their confrontation on Horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place immediately after chapter 2 of "Rebecca Shepard."
> 
> Using fluff prompt list part 2 (from my tumblr: https://aricazorel.tumblr.com/post/642488629804056576/fluffy-prompts-part-2)  
> #8 ‘You make me feel again.’  
> #9 ‘It’s you. It’s always been you.’  
> #15 ‘You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
> 
> Story inspired by a comment from Lady_Experiement on "Rebecca Shepard"

The memory of a previous life haunted the Commander. A life where she had found happiness amid a war for the entire galaxy’s existence. A war most did not believe was upon their doorstep. A war she had been resurrected to stop yet again. A war that was upon them in full force despite her best efforts.

Yet the universe had a sense of humor. She was convinced of it. She had found the love of her life during a perilous mission only to lose him by dying. Finding him again only to learn he had been used as bait for her enemy and anger had kept them apart. Anger and hurt. Then his life was nearly lost before they could attempt a proper reconciliation. Yes. The universe had a cruel sense of humor.

That seeped into her dreams turned nightmares. The blond boy from Earth she had tried to save. The one that told her she could not help him. The voices of all those she had failed to save and the friends she had lost along the way. The images of loved ones suffering at the hands of her enemy. The words spoken in anger upon what should have been a happy reunion with the one who held her heart. Words that already hurt twisted further by the nightmare…

~~~~~

_“Commander Shepard. Captain of the Normandy. First Human Specter. Savior of the Citadel. A legend. And a ghost.”_

_Shepard looked into the whiskey-colored eyes of her former Lt. now a Staff Commander. He wore the perfectly schooled expression she had come to expect from him when he was hiding his emotions. He stood several feet away from her, making no motion to come closer_. Wasn’t he supposed to? It felt wrong. They were supposed to…What?

Hug. That’s it. He was supposed to—

_“I thought you were dead, Shepard. We all did,” he said in a low voice, mask still in place._

_“You don’t sound too happy to see me. Something bothering you, Kaidan?” she asked._ Wait. That wasn’t right either. She had said ‘I was. But I got better.’ An attempt at humor, a way to break the awkwardness between him. He always used to like her offbeat humor.

 _The Staff Commander scoffed. “Yeah. Something’s bothering me. I spent the past two years believing you were dead!_ That’s _what’s bothering me!”_

 _“Kaidan—”_ This wasn’t right. Horizon had been bad but not in the way this was heading.

_He took two long strides towards her. “I thought we had something, Shepard. I loved you. Thinking you were dead tore me apart. How could you put me through that? Why didn’t you try to contact me? Why didn’t you let me know you were alive?”_

_“Kaid, I’m sorry…I was clinically dead for two years. It took Cerberus all that time to bring me back…So much time had passed. I thought you would have moved on. We only had a few months together. Did it really mean that much to you?” she said._ Her mind screamed at her for saying the words. She had never said anything about it only being a few months or questioned what it meant to him because she already knew. It was wrong. All of it.

_“You don’t get to call me that if you doubt what we had,” Alenko said as he backed up. “I can’t believe the reports were right…But I did move on or at least I thought I had. Maybe it would have been better if I had considering you’re with Cerberus now.”_

_She opened up her mouth to say something, anything but nothing came out. In her silence, the man she loved continued to break her heart. “Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. I got a tip this colony might be the next one hit. Anderson stonewalled me. But there were rumors that you weren’t dead. That you were working for the enemy.”_

_When she was able to say something, once again it was not the words she had spoken on Horizon. Still as if someone else spoke, she said, “Our colonies are disappearing. The Alliance turned its back on them. Cerberus is the only group willing to do something about it.”_

_“You really believe that! We both know what Cerberus is like. What they’re capable of. I wanted to believe the rumors that you were alive. But I never expected anything like this!”_

_“Cerberus and I want the same thing. To save our colonies. I do not answer to them. I’m using them as a means to an end…Building the defense towers was just a cover story. The Alliance sent you here to investigate me didn’t they?”_

_“I was here for Cerberus. You were just a rumor. You betrayed the Alliance. You betrayed **me**.”_

_The words, while not all over them were as she remembered, those were. The last three still cut her to the core even in a distorted memory. And they still hurt the most. The sting still with her even as they had tried to make amends…_

_“Alenko. You know me. You know I’d only do this for the right reasons. You saw it yourself. The Collectors are targeting human colonies, and they’re working with the Reapers. The Alliance has turned a blind eye but surely you can’t. Not after what we saw and experienced on the SR1.”_

_The Staff Commander shook his head in anger. “I wanted to believe, Shepard. But I don’t trust Cerberus and I don’t understand how you can. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you. What if they’re behind it? What if they’re working with the Reapers? What if you just want to be right?”_

_“You’re letting how you feel about their history get in the way of the facts,” she replied flatly._ She had said that, but it turned out that he had been right. Cerberus had manipulated her. She had let it happen but why? To save the colonies or to be right?

_“Maybe. Or maybe you feel you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe you’re the one not thinking straight. You’ve changed but I still know where my loyalties lie. I’m an Alliance soldier. Always will be. You don’t even know who you are anymore. I don’t know who you are anymore.”_

_“Kaidan. You can’t believe I’d—"_

_“I’ve got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not.”_

_“Kaidan, you could rejoin the Normandy. You’d be a great asset to the team…It would be just like old times…”_

_“No it wouldn’t. I’ll never work for Cerberus and the Commander I knew wouldn’t have either…Goodbye, Rebecca and good luck.”_

_“Goodbye,” she whispered._ The last part of the exchange was exactly what had been said on Horizon. Was he right? Did she not know who she was any longer? Did Rebecca still exist or was she just Shepard now? Destined to always be alone, making the sacrifices no one else could?

~~~~~

“Hey, easy there,” a soft familiar voice soothed as she jolted awake. She glanced quickly around the room, realizing she as in her cabin on the SR2, the dull blue light of the fish tank bathing the room in its soft glow. She shifted as strong, gentle hands came to rest around her.

She looked up to see Kaidan Alenko, the _real_ Kaidan Alenko gazing down at her with a tender smile. His whiskey-brown eyes reflecting everything he felt for her since the SR1. Nothing of the nightmare she had just had…

“Rebecca, are you alright? You were starting to thrash around…”

The Commander stared at him as she tried to process what was going on. She remembered the nightmare but before that they had talked…In her cabin. After she had found him in the observation lounge and heard the news of his father…

They had talked about everything. Mars. The hospital. The standoff during the siege of the Citadel. Everything _but_ Horizon. Could that be why she still had the nightmares? The ones that made the actual events on the cursed colony seem like a picnic? Like the one she had just had? The one that made her physically sick to her stomach…

“Kaid…”

“I’ve got you, Becca,” the Major reassured her as he held her to his chest. It was then that she realized she had fallen asleep against him on the couch. By the chrono by the bed, it was well after midnight. He had stayed with her during those hours, allowing her to fall asleep initially feeling safe and having a sense of peace. Now…

“Just like old times…”

“What?” he asked as he continued to hold her.

“I told you on Horizon that it would be just like old times if you joined me on the Collector mission,” she clarified, shivering at the memory. “But you were right. It wouldn’t have been.”

“Shep, we don’t have to talk about—”

“Yes, we do. _I_ do,” she insisted as she turned around, breaking free of his comforting embrace. “It’s been—I’ve been ignoring it like I ignore everything that hurts.”

“Becca, Horizon was…not a good time for anyone,” Kaidan replied with an expression that let her know that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say.

“I was dead, gone, in a coma, whatever for two years and then I see you there and you…”

“Were floored,” Alenko finished for her. His whiskey-colored eyes hard to read. He was trying to control his emotions. The subject of Horizon was just as upsetting for him as it was for her. “But we don’t need to—”

“Yes. We do, Kaidan. We need to quit acting like we’re going to get past Horizon by just burying it! You said that in the hospital, but it hasn’t worked. I can’t—”

“I said forgive too. Is that off the table as well, Commander?” His expression turned hard as he crossed his arms, the arms that had just held her through a nightmare.

“Kaidan, it’s not like that,” she said, feeling very much alone. The use of her rank while they were alone in her cabin after all the progress they had made did not instill a sense of comfort in her.

“Then _how_ is it, Commander? I said I owned a lot of what happened on Horizon. I was angry but I thought we had forgiven each other…” he pointed out, narrowing his eyes. “You are the one having issues with what we agreed on.”

“What we agreed on was _wrong_ ,” she corrected as she watched conflicting emotions flicker across his face. Quietly she added, “At least partially wrong.”

“Then what was right?”

“We should forgive,” Shepard answered quickly. Shepard paused as she took a breath. “But not without understanding what happened…”

Kaidan sucked in a breath. His eyes watching her closely, just as he had on Horizon trying to decide if she were real or not. What would he decide now?

“I was angry…I was angry that you just appeared out of thin air as if nothing had happened. As if two years hadn’t been taken from us. As if you were still the same Commander Shepard and I was still a Lt…”

Shepard bit her lip as he rose to his feet, turning towards the fish tank. “You _died_ , Rebecca. You died and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it. I would have done _anything_ to get you back…I was in denial for the longest time…”

He turned his head back to her, his whiskey-colored eyes full of sadness. “You know they had a funeral service for you. Full honors. Fancy speeches by people who didn’t know jack about you. Then they asked me to say something. I had to get up there and pretend that we weren’t together. That I didn’t love you so they would just see and remember the great invisible Commander Shepard…But you _weren’t_ invincible.”

She scooted forward on the couch. He had never talked about her funeral. No one had except Joker who simply said it was nice but not what she would have wanted. “Kaidan, I never wanted to leave you. I—”

“Your casket was empty. They buried an _empty_ casket,” he continued, cutting her off. He turned back to the aquarium; the fish oblivious to his emotional state. “It was enough to let my mine play tricks on me. If there was no body, you weren’t dead. You might be alive, out on some secret mission. You’d come back and tell me all about it…But that wasn’t true…”

Shepard watched as he turned around to face her, leaning his back heavily against the aquarium glass with a dull thud. “I _stopped_ feeling. Everything. I couldn’t be around anyone who knew me. It’s why I accepted Anderson’s offer to work for him. If I couldn’t have you back, I could at least carry on in your name. I could do that…without feeling.”

“Kaidan, that’s not…If anything ever happened to me, I hoped you would be okay. That you would find your way again…Maybe even love,” she said as her voice grew quieter with each word.

“Maybe I should have. Maybe I should have moved on. I thought I had. The doctor I dated…It lasted one whole date. I literally felt nothing during the whole thing. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. It’s not fair to her or anyone…” the Major shrugged as he looked at the deck plates, the aquarium light making it look as if her were flaring his biotics.

She used to love seeing him flare blue, especially when he did it to show off for her. Just like he had in the old days…

If it couldn’t have been like old times while she was allied with Cerberus, could it be _now_? Could they move passed Horizon once and for all in order for it to be like old times and make the future theirs? For however long their future lasted…

“Do you—Do you regret what happened between us on the SR1?” she asked quietly, afraid of the answer, knowing now just how deeply her death had scared him. She had asked once before since he had been hospitalized but now she knew about how her death had really affected him.

His brown eyes quickly met hers, surprise on his face. Did that mean he didn’t? “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Rebecca.”

“But I died…What I said on Horizon— _how_ I said it…I should have realized it wouldn’t be that simple to fix things…seeing your dead girlfriend resurrected and standing in front of you…Who can be prepared for that?” she stammered out sitting up fully on the couch.

“Sweetheart, whatever nightmare you have about Horizon, and I know you have them. So do I,” he began as he stood up to his full height. “Just know…It’s you. It’s always been you. It always will be.”

The Commander bit her lip again. All the doubts, all the insecurities, all the stress, anxiety, and fear she felt evaporated as he bridged the distance between him. He fell to his knees as he took her hands in his; his eyes never wavering from hers. In a raw whisper, Alenko admitted, “You make me feel again.”

“Kaid,” she whispered back, no longer afraid to use her nickname for him after what occurred in her distorted nightmare.

His sincere grin was her reward. One of his hands reached up to cup her cheek as he said, “Becca, I’m sorry we didn’t—that it took so long to—I should have realized what this was doing to you…I promised to be there for you.”

“I thought you said this time we should be there for each other,” she corrected as she leaned into his touch.

“I did say that didn’t I?” Kaidan said with a wider grin as he leaned closer to her. “I think I also said that I should have kissed you first on Horizon before we argued.”

“You did,” Shepard murmured as she watched the second human Specter inch forward.

“Maybe I should begin making up for that miscalculation now, Rebecca,” he uttered as he leaned into her, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss.

Shepard put aside the Commander for that moment and was simply Rebecca, kissing the man she loved, the man she had come back to either through fate or sheer luck. Even with all the death and destruction around them, the kiss promised them that it would indeed be like old times. Only much better this go around.


	2. Stay With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By whatever powers that be, they both survived the final battle with the Reapers. Kaidan and the crew of the Normandy limped home on sub-light after the Relays became disabled. They found Earth still standing as reconstruction effects slowly beginning. And while that was important for the crew, finding out his mother and wife were alive meant even more to the Major.
> 
> His mother was unharmed, having found a refuge during the war and now lived at the Alenko orchard. His wife was alive. Shepard once again beat the odds and lived. Kaidan had been told she’d been found under rubble from the Citadel near London. She’d sustained several broken bones, internal injuries, and severe burns. She’d been in a coma when he’d first seen her.
> 
> A few weeks later, she’d regained consciousness. Once she realized he was there, her first words had been ‘stay with me please.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was first posted on Tumblr from my Fluff prompt part 1 list “stay with me please” and requested by @Ripley95
> 
> Post ME3 by 6 months

Six months ago the Reaper War ended. Five months ago the Normandy returned to Earth after being knocked off course by the energy discharge from the Crucible. One month ago Kaidan Alenko brought home Rebecca Shepard.

By whatever powers that be, they both survived the final battle with the Reapers. Kaidan and the crew of the Normandy limped home on sub-light after the Relays became disabled. They found Earth still standing as reconstruction effects slowly beginning. And while that was important for the crew, finding out his mother and wife were alive meant even more to the Major.

His mother was unharmed, having found a refuge during the war and now lived at the Alenko orchard. His wife was alive. Shepard once again beat the odds and lived. Kaidan had been told she’d been found under rubble from the Citadel near London. She’d sustained several broken bones, internal injuries, and severe burns. She’d been in a coma when he’d first seen her.

A few weeks later, she’d regained consciousness. Once she realized he was there, her first words had been ‘ _stay with me please.’_

Of course he had stayed. Kaidan had spent every possible moment by her side. Through every surgery, every physical therapy session, every doctor’s appointment, every triumph, every set back. He stayed.

Now resting peacefully in their bed at the cabin he had built after Jump Zero before joining the Alliance, Rebecca Shepard continued to slowly recover. Refusing to let the Reapers or Cerberus get the last laugh, she refused to give up. As soon as she had been strong enough to leave the hospital, Kaidan had whisked her away to the cabin which miraculously survived the Reapers’ onslaught. He refused to let anyone or anything jeopardize the progress she’d made.

Now as he stood in the doorway of their bedroom, he watched the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. He caught himself doing that more often nowadays. He had almost lost her twice, but she came back.

_Stay with me please._

Her words rang in his head every time he watched her sleep. He had repeated a silent prayer almost exactly like that since he’d learned Shepard had made it to the beam in London all those months ago. And she had made it back. His wife had stayed…

The Major took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was over. The nightmare was over, and they could live again. They were alive. _Both_ of them…

“If we weren’t married, I’d think the staring thing you do while I’m asleep was creepy,” Shepard’s voice called out to him.

Kaidan opened his eyes to see a pair of green eyes staring back from across the room. A mischievous grin played upon her pale features. Her red hair laying on her pillow in a loose braid. He was still attempting to refine that particular skill.

“Good thing we’re married then,” Alenko retorted, wondering how often she was actually awake when he watched her.

“Yeah,” Rebecca agreed as she attempted to sit up.

Kaidan quickly moved to her side of he bed as he scolded, “You aren’t supposed to do this by yourself yet.”

“But I’m not helpless,” she pouted as he carefully maneuvered her into a sitting position against her pillows.

“No one said you were but accepting help isn’t a bad thing, Becca,” he replied as he flipped the messy braid over her shoulder. “But you don’t know how many times the only thing preventing me from using my biotics to keep you from doing something stupid is your doctor’s orders.”

“But I like it when you use your biotics on me,” she said coyly, batting her eyelashes at him. “Means you’re all hot and bothered.”

“Shepard,” the L2 biotics said warily as he gently sat on he edge of the bed.

“We’re _married_ , Kaidan. It’s not like it’s a bad thing,” she said with a shrug. “I like to see you glowing blue when we are together. It’s a turn on.”

Kaidan sighed heavily as he watched the Commander extend a hand towards him. It was her left one, the one she had broken and suffered severe burns on. She had received a skin graft which was still evident on her forearm. It shook just the tiniest bit still as he gently took it in his.

“I know but we have to take things slow for a while longer,” he reminded gently. Knowing patience wasn’t his wife’s strong suit, Kaidan continually attempted to convince her the wait would be worth it in the long run.

“Waiting sucks,” Rebecca mumbled pouting again as she glared at nothing in particular.

Apparently the great Commander Shepard had no problem setting aside her bad-ass façade in order to pout at her husband. Most of the time it didn’t work, but that had changed when he discovered what had happened to her after the Crucible fired. Now for better or worse, the second human Specter found himself giving in more often to those pouty lips.

“I promise we will make up for lost time,” he vowed squeezing her hand lightly. “Anything you want, sweetheart.”

“Anything?” she asked innocently, her green eyes demanding an honest answer.

“Anything,” he repeated.

Shepard was quiet for a few moments as she gazed at him thoughtfully. “What about what I want now?”

“ _Right_ now?”

She nodded.

“Shep, I can’t—”

“Stay with me, please,” she uttered quietly. He would never tire of hearing those words from her.

Kaidan smiled, realizing she had just been teasing him before. When would he stop falling for that? “You know there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

The Commander grinned as she patted the other side of the bed. Wordlessly, Alenko complied. Assuming a seat next to her, he slipped under the blankets as he wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders. Shepard leaned comfortably against him, her head on his shoulder.

Kaidan wasn’t sure how long they sat there in silence as the setting sun cast long shadows through the French doors from the wrap-around porch. Everything was worth it. Even all the hardships and the sacrifices if it meant the woman who had held his heart for years, the one her had married in an impromptu ceremony aboard the Normandy, remained in his life.

She’d come back.

Despite everything, she’d come back.

Shepard’s words since she’d woke up to find him waiting for her, played in his head again. But they weren’t just her words anymore…

“Stay with me. Please.”

The words tumbled out unbidden but no less true. A wish, a prayer he had said to himself for months now, finally given a voice. Now said aloud for his love to hear.

She shifted against him ever so slightly. Quietly she repeated his words from earlier, “You know there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

Kaidan kissed her temple, knowing they had just made a promise to one another. One to reinforce the vows they had made on the SR-2 during their shore leave wedding on the Citadel.

No matter what was thrown in their path, what problems they faced, or what trouble came their way, they would stay together. They would stay strong and true for the other because that was what their love was all about.


	3. This Reminded Me of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rebecca decides to surprise Kaidan with a gift, something that is uniquely him and does she ever find one. What do you get a sci-fi nerd? Fortunately the Citadel has a store that fits the bill...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was first posted on Tumblr from my Fluff prompts part 1 “this reminded me of you” and was requested by @non-plaidweave
> 
> Takes place during the Citadel DLC of ME3

Spending the first few days of mandatory shore leave chasing your own clone and recovering your stolen ship was not how Rebecca Shepard had envisioned the time off. She hadn’t expected Anderson to give her his apartment either, but she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead she decided to spend the time as ordered: off duty while she caught up with friends, took it easy, and spent quality time with Kaidan. Granted her shore leaves had always been hit or miss on whether other people enjoyed them with her but Kaidan was different. She knew him. _Really_ knew him and thought she might be able to find things they both enjoyed doing.

That’s why she stopped into a random store in one of the lower wards market districts. It screamed Kaidan Alenko. The ward itself was home to a mixture of races and was a prime area for tourists to frequent. And _that_ was what she was at the moment. Not the Commander, not the Savior of the Citadel, not the galaxy’s beacon of hope against the impossible. Just a tourist looking for a gift for her nerdy boyfriend and did that shop fit the bill. Thankful she actually listened to his random facts at all hours of the day and night, she was sure to find something he liked.

The whole concept of the store was based on interesting and unique things from Earth’s past. As one of the newer species on the galactic scene, humanity was still a curiosity to some. The oddities of Earth’s pop culture from past centuries permeated the shelves, racks, and display spaces in the specialty shop.

Shepard roamed the aisles looking for a specific pop culture icon from the late 20th-early 21st centuries. Surely they had something related to his nerdy obsession. After all he had been through and all he did for her, he deserved something familiar, something comforting, something distinctly Kaidan.

Finally at the very back of the store, she found it. All sorts of items: tee shirts, hats, figures, plushies, OSDs with movies and TV series, models, and much more. But one thing in particular caught her attention. A box containing what looked to be a collection of several items. Ones she _knew_ Kaidan would love.

Her target acquired, the Commander- turned- tourist quickly paid for it and made her way back to the apartment. If she were lucky, Kaidan would still be out with Cortez, Vega, and Joker at the arcade. She could wrap it and surprise him.

_Hopefully_ …

~~~~~

“Hey, Becca! I’m back,” Kaidan’s voice called from the living room.

“I’m in here,” she shouted from the bar area. The large box sat on the coffee table in front of her as _The Battlespace_ played on the large vid screen but muted.

The Major rounded the wall partition as he commented, “Joker still wants to have that party. Tried all evening to get Steve, Vega, and me to convince you to agree to it.”

“I told him I’d think about it,” Rebecca groaned from the couch.

“Yeah, well you know Joker. He gets an idea and won’t let go until he gets his way,” Alenko replied as he came to stand by the couch, the artificial fire crackling behind him.

“Yeah. I know but all I want to do right now is spend time with you,” she said tossing her red hair over her shoulder. “ _Alone_.”

“I’m all yours tonight, Becca,” he assured her as his whiskey-colored eyes flickered to the coffee table. “I promise.”

Shepard grinned. “Something catch your eye, Major?”

“You _always_ have my eye, Shep,” he said with a lop-sided grin.

“You’ve gotten better with your flirting,” she noted as he approached the table.

“Who said I was flirting? I thought I was simply stating a fact,” Alenko commented, winking at her.

“Kaidan,” the Commander murmured as she felt herself blush lightly.

“It’s true,” the L2 biotic said as he pointed to the box. “But what it that?”

“It’s a box.”

“Becca.”

“It’s a _wrapped_ box.”

“Shepard.”

“It’s a wrapped box with something _allegedly_ inside it.”

“ _Rebecca Jane Shepard!”_

The Commander laughed as she held up her hands as if in surrender. “Okay! Okay! No reason to sound like my dad.”

Kaidan made a face. “Don’t _ever_ say that again. That’s just…weird.”

Rebecca laughed again as she motioned towards the box. “It’s for you.”

“Me?” the Major asked in surprise. “From who?”

She frowned as she replied indignantly, “Me, Alenko. Unless you have other women gifting you things behind my back.”

“Hell, no,” the second human Specter exclaimed as he reached for the box.

“No guys either?” she teased as he sat down on the couch beside her.

With the box in his lap, he gave her an incredulous look. “Sweetheart, while I do like both men and women, I _only_ love you.”

Shepard was left speechless by his honesty as he quickly kissed her cheek. He gave her a grin and began to unwrap the box. Her once emotionally reserved Lt. was not so any longer, and it suited him. It suited him very well.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“You always say that, and you know I’m gonna do it anyway.”

“Yeah, well I still think you don’t have to…”

The Commander grinned as he went silent. His fingers traced over the edges of the box as his eyes flickered from one image to another on the side facing him. She leaned forward to look at him better. His expression was one of surprise and something she couldn’t place.

“I found it at an Earth novelty shop in one of the wards,” she said softly.

Kaidan nodded as she continued to look over the box.

“This,” Rebecca said motioning to the focus of his attention, “reminded me of you.”

“I had some like these when I was a kid,” Kaidan murmured as he opened the box. “My mom found them somewhere. Used to put them together to distract me from my biotics when I got frustrated with them.”

Shepard smiled as he pulled out several smaller boxes, each of a different model kit. She watched as his smile widened as he told her the name of each ship the model was supposed to build. A look of fondness for a childhood memory on his handsome features the entire time.

“This one’s an X-wing—Red 5. Luke’s ship…This is the _Millennium Falcon_ —a YT-1300…Ummm, this is a TIE Fighter and a…TIE Advanced—Vader’s I think…A Star Destroyer—Venator class used during the Clone Wars and a…Oh wow! It’s the _Ebon Hawk_!”

Shepard recognized all the ships except the last one from binge watching the Star Wars movies and series with him in the hospital. “Come again?”

He turned to her excitedly. “It’s the ship from a couple of Star Wars video games. I had an emulator for them growing up. I might still have it…”

“So it’s a good thing?”

He nodded with a broad grin. “It was a fun couple of games. I can show them to you some time but…”

“But what?”

“Well, my mom used to say the pilot of the ship sounded a little like me,” he said rubbing the back of his neck, clearly a little embarrassed. “It might be _weird_.”

She looked at him thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s just one more thing that can remind me of you. You are weird in a special kind of way.”

Kaidan gazed at her happily. “This mean a lot to me, Becca. Just like you do. Thank you.”

“I’m glad,” she said looping an arm though his.

He went back to inspecting the model kits as she laid her head against his shoulder.

“You know,” she began, “when you get those put together I think there might be enough room to display them in the case in the loft.”

He turned to her. “You’d put my model kits from Star Wars with your models of real ships?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Umm, because they’re not—”

“Not what, Kaidan?” she asked. “They are important to you and you are important to me.”

He looked at her with cynically. “While that does sound sweet and sincere, is that really the only reason?”

“Well, of course it is,” she replied. Shepard paused and winced. “Welllll, that _and_ I think most of them look badass…except for the TIE. It looks like a messed-up eyeball.”

Alenko laughed. “Oddly enough that was a nickname the Rebels and New Republic pilots gave them. The TIE/LN starfighter and the TIE/D Defender specifically. I—”

“Alright, my handsome nerd, I get you are excited and I’m glad you like them, but I thought we were spending the night together. _Alone_. Do I need to be jealous of the model kits?”

“No, Becca. I’m all yours,” he said setting them aside as he leaned over. Kissing her, he suggested, “We could watch the movies though.”

“Hmmmm,” she said. “We could as long as it isn’t too distracting.”

“If you want my full attention all you ever have to do it ask.”

“I know. And I love you. You and all of your nerdiness too.”

“Oh good. I was worried…”

“Kaidan.”

“I love you too.”

She smiled. Rebecca would always love him. Everything about him. _Everything_. 


End file.
